ABSTRACT:The chapter on “Bureaucracy” is in vol. 3 of E&S, along with six other chapters on various types of domination, legitimacy, and authority. What you should know, context-wise: bureaucracy is the typical expression of rationally regulated association within a structure of domination.[1] This chapter is a schematic outline of the structural characteristics, origins (= necessary conditions), and effects of bureaucracy. Fully-developed bureaucracies are impersonal, “objective,” indestructible, indispensable, born out of inherent technical superiority, cause social leveling, and boost rationalism [among MANY other things].

SUMMARY:I. Characteristics of a Modern Bureaucracy, a.k.a. Modern “Officialdom” (956-958) A. Jurisdictional areas are generally ordered by rules = laws = administrative regulations (956). 1. Regular activities required by the bureaucracy are assigned as official duties. 2. The authority to command the discharge of these duties is distributed in a stable way and is delimited by rules concerning acceptable coercive means. 3. The regular and continuous fulfillment of these duties is provided for in a methodical way. These three elements constitute:

- a bureaucratic agency in the sphere of the state - a bureaucratic enterprise in the sphere of the private economy Bureaucracy is fully developed only in modern state or modern economy = capitalism. B. There is a clearly established office hierarchy system of super- and sub-ordination in which there is a supervision of lower offices by higher ones and regulated channels of appeal (957). The fully developed bureaucracy is “monocratically organized” [ruled by a single person, such as a Prime Minister]. Ideally, the higher authority never takes over the lower authority’s business [bureaucracy would then ‘shrink’]; instead, lower authority’s offices will always be filled in the case of a vacancy [bureaucracy thus always and only grows larger]. C. Management is based on written documents and a staff of subaltern officials and scribes. The officials plus their “files” and materials make up a bureau. In principle, official bureau activity is kept separate from private home life [for relevance of this point, think $$] (957). D. Office management usually presupposes thorough, specialized training (958). E. Official activity demands full working capacity of the official in a fully developed bureaucracy (958). F. Management of the office follows general rules, which are pretty stable, exhaustive, and learnable (958). Knowledge of these rules constitutes special technical expertise. II. The position of the official within and outside of the bureaucracy (958-963) A. Office Holding as a Vocation

a. True because there is a required, prescribed course of training and exams which takes up full working capacity for a long time, has special exams b. Also true because position of the official is seen as a “duty”—official doesn’t own position, but rather agrees to fulfill “impersonal and functional purposes” of office in exchange for secure guarantee of existence. B. The Social Position of the Official

a. The modern official always strives for and usually attains a distinctly elevated social esteem vis-a-vis the governed. Officials have highest social position where there is demand for expert administration and there is a strong hold of status conventions/social differentiation (e.g. not in U.S.) (959-60). b. Elected officials hold autonomous positions vis-à-vis their supervisors. Appointed officials function more...

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...Bureaucracy by MaxWeber
Tameka Fraser
Sociological Theory
Chapter 13: Bureaucracy –MaxWeber
According to Peter Kivisto, Weber was known as the first scholar to assess the impact of modern bureaucratic organizations because Weber viewed this as an integral (essential) aspect of industrial capitalism. Weber believed that bureaucracy is essential if capitalism was to expand productive capacity. In the reading of selection from Weber’s “Economy and Society” (1921), he presented an ideal portrait of the most relevant features of bureaucracy with particular attention to the nature and basis of authority in bureaucracy.
Weber described bureaucracy in two terms as: (1)”bureaucratic authority”-where public and lawful government constitutes the elements of administrative regulations to be distributed, to give command and the execution of such commands. (2) “bureaucratic management”-where regulations are constituted through private economic domination. He indicated that bureaucracy is fully developed in political and religious communities in the modern state, and in the private economy only in the most advanced institutions of capitalism (Kivisto, 2011).
Weber explained the principles of office hierarchy (ranking) and levels of authority by...

...Question 3 – Max Weber’s ideal-typical conceptualization of the modern bureaucracy
In modern society a bureaucratic structure is considered the most effective way of managing both public and private affairs. This has although not always been the case, and one of the first to describe the emergence and development of bureaucracy was the German sociologist MaxWeber. Through his theory of rationalization and subsequent utilization of ideal types he was able to describe this phenomenon on both theoretical and analytical levels. He determined several preconditions for a bureaucratic structure and also described how the rule-bound nature and division of labour were important parts of this. His work has always been subject to much debate, and still remains an important contribution to social scientific research.
MaxWeber introduced the use of ”ideal types” in analyzing different socio-economic phenomena. An ideal type is created through an “analytical accentuation of certain elements in reality”. In practice this analytical accentuation draws attention to the most important aspects of a given phenomenon, and leaves out the differentiated factors which vary within different cultural contexts. This “breaking down” of factors can be very difficult, and as Weber states “Sharp differentiation in concrete fact is often impossible, but this makes clarity in the...

...MAXWEBER
I. INTRODUCTION
A) Biography
Birth name: Karl Emil Maximilian Weber
Birth date: April 21 1864 (Erfurt, Germany)
Parents: MaxWeber Sr. and Helene Fallenstein
Death: June 14, 1920 (Munich, Germany)
Spouse: Marianne Schnitger (feminist and author)
* Studied in the universities of Heidelberg and Berlin and was trained in law.
* He taught in various universities in Germany until 1897 when he suffered a nervous breakdown due to his father’s death. His illness forced him to withdraw from his teaching duties in 1903.
* Even though he wasn’t teaching, Weber still continued to work by studying various philosophical and religious topics, which led him to publish a number of essays and, most especially, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which is considered his most famous work.
* During the first World War, Weber became a fervent supporter of the German’s aims for war and even volunteered to be part of the army but he later changed his views and became one of the most prominent critics of Kaiser’s war policies.
* He was invited to join the draft board of the Weimar Constitution as well as the German delegation to Versailles and even ran for a parliamentary seat.
* Frustrated with the state of politics, he returned to teaching in 1919 and briefly taught in the Universities of Vienna and Munich and was compiling his writings...

...Ironic Social Theory of MaxWeber: The ‘Iron Cage’
Steven Seidman
Wiley-Blackwell publishing Ltd.
MaxWeber has long been recognized as one of the founders of modern sociology. He has had an immense impact on how we understand the development and nature of our capitalist society today. Looking at almost all the major world cultures, Weber was able to analyze the different factors that he believes have contributed to the modernization of our society. He is well known for his work The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism, where he explores the link between religious Protestant ideals and the start up of capitalist culture in Europe. After analyzing the upbringing of modernization in Europe Weber investigates why similar systems failed to develop in Eastern cultures; recognizing that religion and culture are key determinants. Later he identifies that charismatic authority also has an influence on modernization since these are the leaders that threaten the existing social and political systems and form revolutions of social change. Weber notes that this constant challenge by charismatic authority will eventually subside and is succeeded by a rationally controlled bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is inevitable, spreading to all major social spheres, and although a major force of modernity it has its negative impacts. Bureaucratic systems...

..... and many other factors involved in running a business. In the end, the organization that can best process information will facilitate learning and the development of new knowledge. Another model suggests that organizations focus on traits such as power and subordination, culture and adaptation, and efficiency.
From their creation, organizations will develop, adapt and evolve and so will the theories and models. Modern organizational theory is rooted in concepts developed during the Industrial Revolution. During that period was the research of MaxWeber, a German sociologist. Weber based his model bureaucracy on legal and absolute authority, logic, and order. Weber believed that bureaucracies, staffed by bureaucrats, represented the ideal organizational form. In the bureaucracy, responsibilities for workers are clearly defined and behavior is controlled by rules, policies, and procedures. One can suggest that Weber’s bureaucracy mimicked a machine, people were arranged to perform specific functions, each of which worked in concert with another to form a streamlined process. This is similar to the many gears of a clock working together to keep time.
Weber's theory on organizations reflected an impersonal and indifferent attitude toward the people working within the organization. Personal aspects of human behavior were not taken into consideration and in fact...

...MaxWeber (1864-1920)
Karl Emil Maximilian Weber (MaxWeber) was born in Erfurt, Germany on April 21, 1864. MaxWeber was one of the greatest sociologists of the twentieth century, a founding "father" of modern sociology; he was also a historian and a philosopher (Asiado, 2008). Weber deeply influenced social theory, social research and the study of society itself. His wide ranging contributions gave incentive to the birth of new disciplines such as economic sociology and public administration as well as a significant change of direction in economics, political science, and religion. Weber’s most inspiring work was focused on the study of religion, bureaucracy, and rationalization (Asiado, 2008). He was assigned as professor of political economy at the University of Freiburg in 1894 and at Heidelberg University in 1897. He suffered from a mental breakdown in 1898 after his father died and did not continue his academic works until 1904 (Asiado, 2008). In 1907, Weber received a family inheritance which enabled him to continue his work as a private scholar. MaxWeber died of pneumonia on June 14, 1920 (Smith, 2001).
MaxWeber was mainly interested in the reasons behind the employees’ actions and in why people who work in an organization accept the authority of their superiors and...

...legislation which provide for the matters such as the necessary decentralization, financing, maintenance of facilities, teacher training, compulsory education, differentiated education and general control over education. Weber contributes to the educational administration through his Weberian Bureaucratic Model, in which bureaucracy is defined as a concept in sociology and political science referring to the way that administrative execution and enforcement of legal rules are socially organized.
MaxWeber in his Bureaucratic model considers the structure of offices and management of organization such as schools as both public and private. He tries to construct a stereotype of an educational organization through the use of five characteristics that he deems should be possessed in a school. He also ventures his discussion into the characteristics of a bureaucratic official which to be thought as a bureaucratic, should qualify these characteristics. A person possessing such characteristics is then judged as a qualified and appropriate in office. However, if dispossessed of these characteristics, he is not fit for such position in office.
Wayne (1978:111) opines that Weber introduces five important characteristics of a functional educational bureaucracy. Weber first requires educational organizations to have a consistent system of abstract rules which have normally been...

...Introduction:
Bureaucracy literally called ‘rule by officials’, which is an administrative machinery of the government. Accordance with the division of functions and positions, hierarchical management principles established system of administrative power.
Bureaucratic systems were to be structured hierarchically, with those at the top having far greater power and discretion than those at the bottom.
There are four structural concepts are central to any definition ofbureaucracy:
1. A well-defined division of administrative labour among persons and offices,
2. A personnel system with consistent patterns of recruitment and stable linear careers,
3. A hierarchy among offices, such that the authority and status are differentially distributed among actors, and
4. Formal and informal networks that connect organizational actors to one another through flows of information and patterns of cooperation.
In bureaucracies, people were grouped with those who did the same work. There was a workgroup leader and a number of people who reported to the leader.
The workgroup leader planned, allocated, controlled and coordinated the work.
Characteristics of modern bureaucratic system
According to Weber's summary, the modern bureaucratic system has the following characteristics:
1. Normative, inside a fixed and official jurisdiction has theoretical principles, the principle of this theory generally provided for accordance with...